


Discovery Game Night

by tiamat100



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Game Night, Kal-toh, monopoly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 02:43:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13204095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiamat100/pseuds/tiamat100
Summary: When Tilly decides to organise a Game Night for a few of their friends, Michael isn't sure what to expect.





	Discovery Game Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [radioactive_violet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactive_violet/gifts).



> For the 2017 Star Trek Secret Santa. Written for radioactive-violet on tumblr. Thank you to christinesangel100/mwahahahahahahaa for helping me with this. Sorry it’s so late!

Michael was unsure of what to expect. The party had been difficult enough, but amongst crowds she could at least keep to herself if she wished. With only a small group of senior officers and Tilly, it would be difficult to remain engaged.

She had researched common games and recreational activities, but she was not experienced in playing them, and there was too wide a variety for it to be possible to research them all. Everyone had been asked to bring a game they knew, so Michael was bringing Kal-Toh, but it’s focus on logic and strategy might not be what was expected. From the data she’d studied, strategic games such as chess were less common at a game night than those involving public humiliation or consumption of alcoholic beverages.

  
The attendees, as Michael had been informed, would be Doctor Culber, Lieutenant Stamets, Commander Saru, Lieutenant Tyler, Cadet Tilly, and herself. Any interaction between herself and Saru was likely to be tense, and she knew little of Doctor Culber, but she was comfortable with Sylvia and Ash.  
The game night was also happening in Michael and Tilly’s shared quarters, meaning Michael also had to contend with her private space being invaded. Tilly had ordered her out two hours ago so she could make preparations, and Michael was a little concerned about what she would find upon her return. She arrived outside at the same time as Saru, who eyed her suspiciously. That was not out of the ordinary. They had never been friends, not even when they served on the Shenzhou, and Michael’s mutiny meant that Saru would likely never trust her again. There was little she could do about that. They seemed to have developed a sort of truce, but it seemed unlikely for their relationship to improve beyond that.  


Michael opened the door, belatedly realising it may have been a good idea to knock as Tilly let out a sound of surprise, hurriedly turning to see who had entered. She smiled with relief to see it was just Michael, then looked slightly alarmed as Saru entered behind her. Michael deduced that Tilly was not entirely finished with the preparations.  


“Michael! And… Commander Saru! Would you like a drink? I’ve got alcohol from several different star systems, and I’ve been experimenting with cocktails-”  


“I would prefer not to imbibe alcohol.” Saru said smoothly, eyeing Michael. “It can have… undesirable effects on my ability to predict danger.”  


Tilly blinked. “Oh. Of course. But you’re not in danger here, so, I mean, if you wanted to? Not that I’m trying to pressure you, I just-”  


Michael knew Saru was trying to avoid saying he was uncomfortable being uninhibited around her. To say so would make Tilly feel awkward.  
“Perhaps Commander Saru is thinking of what happened at the last social event this crew had.” Michael suggested. “The party was not as safe as we might have thought.”  


Saru inclined his head. “While it seems highly unlikely that Harry Mudd will resurface, I would far rather not have my judgement impeded.”  


“Oh. Okay. Would you like water? Tea? Any kind of non alcoholic drink? I have plenty of those too. I can even make you a non alcoholic cocktail if you want, sir.” Tilly was clearly very eager for the evening to go well.  


Michael spoke again. “I would be willing to try one of your cocktails.”  
Tilly beamed, and moved towards where she’d set up the cocktails, starting to ramble excitedly about the different types.  


“I have several recipes, and I’ve made up a few. This one’s Purple Rain, and this is a Pina Colada. I’ve also have Mojitos, and Long Island Iced Tea’s. They’re all different, with different flavours. Which would you like?”  


Michael wasn’t sure. She didn’t know much about any of those cocktails.  


“Why don’t you pick one that you think I’d like? Or your own favourite?” Michael asked. “I don’t have much experience with cocktails.”  
Tilly smiled. “Do you like pineapples and coconut? The Piña Colada seems to have worked best so far.”  


Michael nodded. “I will try that one, then.”  
Tilly beamed again, before turning to pout Michael a glass of the creamy cocktail. She sipped it cautiously. The flavour was pleasant, but she was sure there was more alcohol in it than was apparent. The last thing she wanted to do was become inebriated.  


Just as Tilly served Saru a glass of water, the doors opened to admit Dr Culber and Lieutenant Stamets. Michael hadn’t spent a lot of time with Dr Culber, but she had a good deal of respect for his skills. Lieutenant Stamets had changed a lot in the short time Michael had known him, which she was attributing to the changes in his DNA that enabled the jumps. She had grown to like him, much as she had grown to like Tilly. She hoped that they would both become friends, though she knew her future was still uncertain. Then again, nobody could be certain of what their futures would bring.  


Case in point: Lieutenant Ash Tyler. A few months ago, he undoubtedly believed he would spend the rest of his life in a Klingon prison, and that his life would not be long. Instead, he was now a senior, trusted officer aboard the Discovery. Life was full of surprises.  
She took another sip of the cocktail. She wondered how long it would take for the alcohol to take effect.

 

A few hours later, the game night was in full swing. Michael had brought Kal-Toh, and Tilly and Stamets had rapidly turned the entire point of the game upside down by making it a drinking game. To Michael's surprise, she was enjoying it. She was also winning, though Lieutenant Stamets was proving a challenging opponent. Saru had also been very good at the game, but he had retired from it to play a Kelpian game with Ash and Dr Culber.  


Tilly was watching from Michael's bed. Why she was sitting on Michael's bed and not her own was unclear. Michael made the finishing move to complete Kal-Toh and the model formed perfectly. Stamets smiled.  


Tilly suddenly sat up straight.  
“Ooh!” She said excitedly. “We should play a classic human game. Twister! Or monopoly!”  
As she explained the rules to Twister, Saru shook his head. “I would rather sit that one out.”  
“Monopoly, then.” Tilly said happily. “That will be fun.”

Fun was not the word Michael would have chosen to describe it. Fifteen minutes in, everybody just seemed frustrated and even angry, but they were engaged.  
Michael had come up with a strategy early. Most of them, she thought, would aim to collect only specific colours of property. If she bought as much property as possible, she would be able to both block the others from collecting the colours, and trade whatever she needed to make a monopoly for herself.  


Unfortunately she was not the only one with this strategy. Tilly was drunk enough to be deciding what to purchase completely at random. Saru was eyeing her suspiciously and buying very cautiously. Tyler had caught on to Michael’s strategy and was exactly the same thing, and Culber and Stamets were alternating between working together to infuriate the others and competing for the same properties.  


Michael had hoped to never find herself in jail again, but it seemed that the dice were conspiring to land her there. Not that that was possible, of course, but it still seemed odd that Michael was spending so much time there. She’d noticed Saru smirking each time, lips twitching upwards as she picked up a card stating ‘Go directly to jail’.  


Tilly was surprisingly doing quite well, despite her current state of inebriation. She didn’t seem to be pursuing a specific strategy, but had ended up with the cards everyone seemed to land on most by pure chance.  


Lieutenant Tyler was the first to become bankrupt, or close to it. He paused on his go, about to have to declare bankruptcy.  
Then, he turned to Michael.  


“I’ll sell you all my properties for $1.” He offered. She raised an eyebrow, noting his strategy. By selling his properties to her, despite the fact he would lose, she would gain an advantage against Tilly. It may not be enough for her to win, but it could help. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so to speak. She accepted and handed over a dollar.  


Stamets was the next to declare bankruptcy. He sold all his properties to Dr Culber, though, meaning Michael did not gain anything from the action.  


Dr Culber then gave his properties to Saru when he bowed out. Somehow, despite this manoeuvring, Tilly was still in the lead. Now it was down to the three of them. Saru, Michael and Tilly.  


It was clear by this point, as Tilly built house after house, hotel after hotel, that Michael was not going to win without help, and neither would Saru. It was time for a sacrifice. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few- and although it wasn’t a need, precisely, everyone else in that room wanted to beat Tilly, who was crowing uninhibitedly over her pile of cash.  
Saru was never going to help Michael win. She knew that. So, for the purpose of victory over Tilly, she turned to him.  


“I will sell you all my properties for $1.”  


Saru seemed surprised. This was not what anyone had expected. Even Stamets looked shocked. Tilly laughed.  


Michael knew that Saru would not want to owe her anything, even in something as silly as a game. She hoped he would believe that it was not a manipulation. His threat ganglia were not indicating a threat.  


Slowly, he nodded and held out a dollar. Silently, Michael passed him her collection of property cards.  
Tilly stared open-mouthed, then shook herself.  
“Did I have more to drink than i thought?” She murmured.  
“That seems likely.” Michael said honestly. “Oh look, I’ve landed on one of Saru’s properties. I can’t quite afford to pay rent. I’ll have to give him the rest of my money and declare bankruptcy.”  
“Still not gonna beat me.” Tilly said, hardly coherently. “I’m gonna have all the monopolies.”

In the end, it was a draw. It turned out that the entirety of the senior staff were no match for a drunk and uninhibited Sylvia Tilly.  
Tilly’s collapse into semi-unconsciousness heralded the end of the evening. The others left, some with friendly wishes, Ash with a reluctant grin, and Saru with a cool and slightly awkward nod.  


Michael gently brought Tilly round.  
“Hey. Hey, Cadet, wake up.”  
Tilly mumbled something indecipherable.  


“Eyes forward, Cadet.” Tilly jumped a little and stared at Michael, eyes bleary. Michael held out a glass of water.  
“Drink this, and then you can go back to sleep.”  


Tilly obediently sipped from the glass. As she finished and Michela took the glass away, she gazed in confusion at the monopoly pieces scattered on the floor.  
“Did it already happen? Who won?”  
Michael smiled. Alcohol truly had a very strange effect. She didn’t know why anyone would want to be in this condition, but she could not deny that the evening had been fun.  


“Yes. It was good. Everyone enjoyed it. And you won.” Of course. She added silently. Tilly was unbeatable.  
Tilly smiled and fell asleep. Michael sat there for a moment.  
She hadn’t expected to enjoy it. She hadn’t expected to find friends here on the Discovery.  
Life truly was a strange thing.


End file.
